Mentorships Awarded!

Since before Christmas, we’ve been going through applications for our new mentorship programme. The aim is to help up-and-coming games writers create solid portfolio pieces, with our guidance and feedback.

We had over fifty entries from all over the world, which was a surprise to us! A wealth of project ideas from fantastic people, all of whom want to find their feet as working games writers. But we were forced to winnow those applications down to just four, as we only have four places.

Thank you to everyone who applied, and we hope the tips everyone received helps you with your next steps.

After much deliberation, we’d love to announce – and to welcome – our first intake of mentees, and we look forward to working with them over the next few months!

Devin Presbury

About: Born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee, I strongly believe that anything can be deep-fried. I have a B.A. in Interactive Entertainment, an M.F.A. in Writing for Screen & Television from the University of Southern California, and a lot of theories about misunderstood Star Wars villain Elan Sleazebaggano.

The Programme: As an aspiring video game writer, I would like to create an interactive story that will help strengthen my portfolio.

The Project: When her best friend is murdered and she’s targeted next, Ash must break into the memories of her estranged friends to determined which one is the killer.

Kelly Hornung

About: As a fan of interactive narratives and unique games, I am always looking for ways to combine these two interests together.

The Programme: With experience as an essayist and playwright, I’m hoping to build my skills in writing non-linear dialogue and plot, as well as develop strategies for environmental storytelling.

The Project: My game will explore the future of food security and wealth, inspired by the works of Edward Gorey, Punchdrunk Theatre Company and Denis Villeneuve’s ‘Next Floor’.

Maja Bäckvall

About: I’m a Danish/Swedish academic researcher specialising in Viking Age runes and medieval manuscripts. My main claim to fame in the games industry so far has been translating Harald Hardrada’s lines into Old Norse for Civilization VI.

The Programme: I hope to learn more about narrative structure, and ultimately to get one step closer to a career in games.

The Project: Medieval pilgrimage – in SPACE. An interactive travelogue set in a space station society based on medieval Europe.

Melissa Gibbs

About: I am a 22 year old freelance writer and blogger from Montreal who has a degree in literature. When I’m not drowning myself in coffee and working on my manuscript, I’m probably slaying something on Final Fantasy or exploring a tomb with Lara Croft.

The Programme: Working under Talespinners, I hope to gain some insight into the game industry as well as how I can make my project ‘Beneath The Bluest Sea’ become a polished stand-out piece of my portfolio!

The Project: Roan, a human child born in a world of turbulent storms and Blue, a river-spirit stuck in a scorching desert, are thrown together as unlikely friends in a quest to save their parallel worlds from total destruction.

Latest News

@tale_spinners

From Our Clients

Being just a two-person studio, working with Talespinners has been invaluable to us. From brief to delivery they're professional, friendly and punctual. It's reassuring to know that we can rely on them to create high-quality writing that adds an extra dimension to our game, allowing us to focus on the art and code.

Dave MillerCo-owner, Runner Duck Games

We had a rough and sprawling story and lore for The Exiled that organically developed over years of development. Ian came and turned that chaos into a structured and coherent document, in the course solving the many logical problems and inconsistencies that had developed. With tiny amounts oversight and feedback from our side he came up with an interesting lore and turned that lore into engaging words. Will work with him again on future projects.

Talespinners have been wonderful to work with; enthusiastic, imaginative, and organised. I thoroughly enjoyed our story meetings. They’ve delivered excellent dialogue and plenty of strong ideas that have lifted our narrative, and spotted story problems early that might have resulted in wasted work. Even if you have a good handle on your story, I would recommend bouncing your ideas off Talespinners – they’ll come back even better.

Chris PayneManaging Director, Quantum Soup

It was a pleasure working with Ian on The Bunker, he has an expert eye for game design detail and an incredible talent for bringing real humanity to storylines. His logic in game narrative structure is flawless and he brought an amazing attention to detail to The Bunker, providing layer after layer of storytelling, making the game richer and more immersive.

Allan PlenderleithDirector, Splendy Games

When you develop a game, you need a great writing team, and that is where Talespinners are indispensable. They are able to take your ideas and create whole worlds with them. From the initial idea all the way to final delivery, I wouldn't trust any other wordsmiths.

Mark DrewCEO, Villainous Games

Talespinners quickly grasped our concept and were immediately able to work it into a captivating and inspirational story. Whenever an issue with the narrative came up, Talespinners were always quick to respond and promptly came up with solutions.

Mostafa HafezCEO, Instinct Games

Ian doesn’t just do the job you give him. He brings new ideas, new approaches and directions, and pulls, sculpts and batters your ideas until they look far shinier than they ever were - or would have been – without him. He is an excellent writer, coder, and logical mind that will help you and your project in far more ways than what is written on any contract or agreement.

Olly BennettManaging Director, Cardboard Sword

What we achieved in a day really impressed us! Talespinners helped us to clarify and amplify our own ideas, bringing them into a clearer structure...We see the workshop and the document that summarises the results as a big success.